


Something To Do

by FestiveFerret



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Confessions, Edible Arrangements Florist Steve, Get Together, M/M, Multi, Tattoo Artist Tony, barista Bucky, trapped together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26631271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret
Summary: Steve, Bucky, and Tony all run shops in the same strip mall and are the best of friends. But when a security system goes on the fritz and they're all stuck together overnight, it comes out that "best of friends" might not be everyone's ideal situation.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 19
Kudos: 338
Collections: Stuckony Summer Stocking 2020





	Something To Do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arukou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arukou/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Arukou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arukou/pseuds/Arukou) in the [stuckony_summer_stocking_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stuckony_summer_stocking_2020) collection. 



> For Arukou. I combined a few of your prompts into one - hope you like it!

Steve added another plastic stick to his precarious construction then used the last one to spear a perfectly round ball of cantaloupe from the container by his elbow. He popped it in his mouth then balanced the last stick on the top of the pile.

"Steve." The door banged open, and Steve startled, sending the stick tower clattering to the ground in pieces. 

"Dude," he grumbled. 

Bucky dropped a delicious-smelling coffee cup on the counter and was immediately forgiven. 

"Closed?" Steve asked.

"Yup. It's like six forty-five. What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you." Steve gathered up the fallen sticks between sips of his coffee and threw them behind the counter. He made sure all the food was packed away then grabbed a large, mixed fruit arrangement in a blue bucket and made for the door, coffee and keys balanced unsteadily in his other hand. He locked up then followed Bucky through the back alley of the strip mall to the third and final unit.

Bucky pushed the door open with his foot, his hands occupied with both his coffee and Tony's and called out, "Tony?"

There was no answer. Steve dropped the arrangement on a table and stuck his head around the door of Tony's office. Tony was inside, back to the door, with his headphones on. He was sitting at his enormous drawing tablet, with a stunning sketch of a geometric tiger half lined in front of him. Steve hooked a finger in the headband of his headphones and tugged them off. "Tony."

"Ah!" Tony startled around, flailing wildly and nearly knocking Steve's coffee out of his hands. "What the fuck. Get a bell."

"If us yelling 'Tony' twice didn't get your attention, I don't think a bell would help."

Tony winked at him and grabbed his coffee, breathing it in. "Sure, but you'd look so cute." He took a sip. 

"That's mine," Steve complained. 

Bucky sidled in after him and swapped Steve's cup for Tony's, giving Steve's back to him. "Are you done?" he asked Tony.

Tony sipped his own coffee and sighed with pleasure. "Not quite. Just need to finish up this sketch for an appointment first thing tomorrow."

Steve checked his phone. "We'll be late for Sam's. You know if we're late, they'll start the game without us."

"I'll be quick. We've got bags of time."

Tony, unsurprisingly, was not quick.

By the time he announced his sketch finished, they only had twenty minutes to close down and get to Sam's. "Tony, let's go!" Bucky called, from the doorway.

"Coming!" Tony came around the corner and typed a code into his security panel. The windows darkened, lights turned off, and the computers powered down with a quiet whirr. 

"Oh shit. I forgot my coffee." Bucky stepped away from the doorway, towards the table, and the door started swinging to.

Tony jerked forward. "Wait! Don't close tha-" But he was too far away, and the door snapped shut with an ominous click. "Oh shit."

"What?" Steve's heart dropped at the fear on Tony's face. 

"Um. So here's a thing."

"Tony…" Bucky glared.

"Okay, so you remember that spate of break-ins I had two months ago?"

"Yes…"

"Well… I set up a new security system. A better one."

"And?"

"And you just set it off by letting the door close after I activated it. And incriminating story short, we're now trapped in here until morning."

_ "What?"  _

Tony winced. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think to tell you to hold it open. I'm always the only one working here so it didn't occur to me that someone else might set it off. Also it was kind of built out of spite so I may not have been thinking through the full range of test cases when I set it up."

"Can't you turn it off?"

"Not from the inside."

"Call someone?"

"Um. So… I may have added a low-level, localized EMP sort of situation. Ish."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ish, huh?"

"So you're saying," Bucky said, "that we're trapped here until morning with no phones, no computer, and only the emergency generator for power?"

Tony coughed. "That about covers it, yeah."

"It turns off in the morning?"

"At eight, yeah."

"Well, thank god I don't have an opening shift," Bucky said. He grabbed the arrangement Steve had made for the party and sat in one of the rolly chairs for Tony's consultations. He tugged a chocolate-covered strawberry off its stick and ate it, glaring at Tony the whole time.

"I'm so sorry." Tony hung his head, and Steve couldn't help but wrap his arm around his shoulders. 

"It's alright, Tony. You didn't do it on purpose."

"Still feel like shit about it."

Bucky plucked out a pineapple flower stick and held it out to Tony. "I'm just teasing. It's okay." Tony took it with a smile, pulling up his own chair.

"I guess we'll just have to find something to do," Steve said with a shrug.

He shouldn't have been surprised that it turned out to not be very hard to do. They worked their way through half the edible arrangement, talking like they always did, catching up on their lives, bitching about annoying customers, and flipping through Tony's album of Terrible Tattoo Cover-Ups he'd been asked to do. 

It was times like this that hurt the most for Steve. When it was just him and Bucky or him and Tony, he could wallow in his twin crushes on his two best friends. He could just let his feelings overwhelm him, thrilling at every look, butterflies fluttering at every touch, but when all three of them were together, it was  _ so hard.  _

Then Tony and Bucky decided that since they had all night, it was time for Bucky to finally get the tattoo Tony had been promising him for months. They had the sketch ready already, just hadn't found time, so it seemed like a perfect plan, but for Steve it was agony. 

He knew Bucky liked Tony as much as Tony liked Bucky, which was  _ a lot.  _ And as much as he wished they liked him back that much, seeing them look at each other like they did made it impossible for him to pursue either. It would be far more painful to come between them than it would be to watch them fall in love from the outside, so that was what Steve had decided to do. It seemed like they were going to need a push to take it to the next level though, and that was going to be hard.

Tony got his supplies ready and rigged up the emergency generator to power everything he needed while Bucky whipped off his shirt - making Steve's mouth water - and sprawled out in the chair. When the stencil was properly placed on his side, Tony snapped on gloves and set to work.

Watching Tony work always made Steve's heart skip a beat, sure hands tracing out perfect lines. His specialty was line work and blueprint-style images, and anyone who'd seen his portfolio could see why. They were stunning. He traced another line then wiped over it with the cloth. "How you doing, Buck?"

Bucky's teeth were gritted together but he nodded. "Come here, Stevie," he said with a mischievous grin. "Hold my hand."

"No way. You'll break it," Steve shot back with a laugh, but he did slide his chair closer and give Bucky's calf a squeeze.

Watching Tony mark Bucky was winding Steve up in ways he never would have expected. Seeing Tony's palm spread firmly over Bucky's stomach, Bucky's hands white-knuckled around the edge of the chair… it was a little too erotic for Steve to ignore.

When Tony finished the last line and smiled at Bucky's pleased grin, Steve had to step away, heart pounding in his chest. They were so beautiful together; Steve couldn't put this off any longer.

"You okay?" Tony had appeared at his side. 

"Yeah, sure," Steve replied halfheartedly. Tony didn't look convinced, but he started to turn away and Steve seized his chance before he chickened out. "Tony."

"Yeah?"

"You…" Steve's eyes cut over to where Bucky was admiring his new decoration in the mirror. "You and Bucky… is there something there?"

"Oh. Um." Pink flushed across Tony's cheeks. "I'm - maybe. A little. We've never talked about it. Is that… I mean, aren't you and Bucky…?"

"Oh, no. I think - I think you should go for it. With him. You two'd be good together."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Steve said firmly.

"Oh." Tony seemed to ponder that for a while, then went back to the little nest they'd made on the floor. Steve brought the remains of the arrangement over and joined him, and Bucky slumped down on Tony's other side. They were all quiet for a moment, until Tony finally turned to Steve and said, "Steve, when you said I should go for it with Bucky, was that your way of gently telling me you're not interested in me?"

_ "What?" _ Bucky went white as a sheet.

"No!" Steve stumbled around his reply, caught out and awkward. "I just… I thought, you know. I think you guys would be really great together that's what I meant."

Tony frowned then nodded slowly. "Okay…" He turned to Bucky. "In that case, want to get dinner Saturday night?"

"What?" Bucky spluttered. "No!"

"Wow. Ouch. Okay," Tony winced.

"Shit. No. Not you." Bucky grabbed Tony's wrist. "Just. You wait. Hold that."

"Oookay."

Bucky turned on Steve. "You didn't answer his question. Come on, Steve. I thought we were doing this playful rivalry thing, but you're just backing out? Like that?"

Steve swallowed heavily and nodded. "Yeah, Buck. I can't… I can't do it anymore. Every time I think about getting exactly what I want, it involves breaking my heart on another front. So… so I think it's best if you and Tony go out on Saturday, and we can all stay friends."

Tony's hand twisted around to catch Bucky's fingers between his, and it made Steve's heart clench with such longing that his legs nearly propelled him up to his feet and out of the room of their own accord. But when he looked back up, Tony was looking at him, not Bucky. "What would getting exactly what you want look like?" Tony asked softly.

Steve swallowed hard. If he didn't tell the truth now, he'd be holding this in forever, and someday it could slip out and hurt people. They had to understand, though. He couldn't bear losing either as a friend, let alone both. "Some days, it's having Tony as my boyfriend. Some days... it's having Bucky. Most days it's both."

"Both?" Bucky asked, eyebrow quirking up.

Steve stuttered. "Uh - well. You know what I mean. It's - I can't decide. I -"

"But…." Tony interjected. "Why not both?"

"...Why?" Steve echoed. He couldn't help but look over at Bucky, who was looking stunned. "Are you -?"

"Yes." Bucky leaned forward. "Yes. I'm in."

"Really?" Steve turned back to Tony who was nodding.

"This is the best idea," Tony said, practically bouncing in place. "I want both of you. I haven't asked either of you out for the past four months because I couldn't bear to choose and you both seemed interested. But like… there's nothing in the rulebook that says we can't all date? Or even if you two are just friends -"

"We're not," Bucky said firmly. "I mean, we are. But. I want more."

Steve nodded. "Me too."

Tony laughed - loud and full - and reached out to grab a handful of each of Bucky and Steve's shirts. He pulled them in, and they all tumbled together in the middle in a ridiculous threeway kiss. Steve caught the corner of Bucky's mouth and the top of Tony's upper lip, nose squished in, too much teeth, and they were all laughing enough to make it less of a kiss and more of a team bumping of foreheads.

It was the best forehead bump Steve had ever had. "Let's go on a date," he said, against their lips, and Tony released them. None of them moved back far, though.

"Okay," Bucky agreed.

"Absolutely." Tony ran one hand through Bucky's hair, the other cupping Steve's cheek, while Bucky reached out and twined his hands with Steve's. "Just one problem?"

Bucky frowned, and Steve braced himself. "What?"

Tony smirked. "We're still trapped in here."

Steve laughed with relief. He shuffled closer, pulling both Tony and Bucky in close. He kissed them both, one then the other, then watched with delight as they kissed each other. "I dunno," he said. "I think we can think of something to do."


End file.
